Category: ScienceNews

Written by Jo Lambert, ‘Hold The Hope’ is now being used as suicide prevention training material by the UK’s National Health Service Mental Health Trust. Emily Kwong speaks with Rhitu Chatterjee about the inner strength of those who live with suicidality, how a song is opening up new conversations for mental health care, and how caregivers can help a person choose life, despite having persistent thoughts of death. 

If you or someone you know may be struggling with suicidal thoughts, contact the 988 National & Suicide Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988. 

Listen to the full version of the ‘Hold The Hope’ song here

Read more of Rhitu’s reporting on ‘Hold the Hope’ here

Listen to Rhitu and Emily’s previous conversation about practical ways to help someone at risk of suicide here

Interested in more stories about mental health care? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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The Trump administration announced an immediate pause on the leases for five large-scale offshore wind farms off the East Coast. The Interior Department provided few details, but said the Pentagon believed the turbines could obscure and confuse radar signals. It's the latest move by the White House taking aim at wind power. Science correspondent Miles O’Brien has been tracking these projects. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy

Dogs are man’s best friend. And it’s no secret that we at Short Wave love cats (Regina has four)! Both of these iconic pets have been domesticated – evolved and adapted to live alongside humans – for millennia. And a recent study suggests that the common raccoon may be on its first steps towards joining them.

So how do scientists look for signs of domestication and what do those signs mean? And could you have a litter box trained raccoon in your lifetime? We talk to the study’s lead author, Raffaela Lesch, to find out.

Interested in more animal science stories? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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When some people are wandering around in shorts and a t-shirt, others are wrapped up in warm coats and jumpers. How come our responses to cold weather are so different?

People have been living in cold environments for thousands of years. So why do some of us struggle with the cold more than others, and what, if any, adaptations have our bodies made to cope in freezing temperatures?

CrowdScience listener Anne from the UK is amazed by the warm houses of her neighbours, and wants to know whether her background might have affected her perspective on the cold.

Caroline Steel investigates, visiting a laboratory in Loughborough University, UK, that pushes the body to the extreme. Dr Matt Maley explains what happens inside our systems to help us survive the plummeting thermostat and how this adaption can vary from person to person.

But it’s not just biological. Our culture impacts our experience of cold too. CrowdScience heads to Norway to meet the global community on the icy Arctic island of Svalbard. There Caroline meets Associate Professor Gunhild Sætren at the Arctic Safety Centre to find out the important role appropriate clothing plays in being prepared for the chilly weather.

And we speak to Dr Cara Ocobock at the University of Notre Dame, USA, who tells us about her research comparing Finnish reindeer herders and office workers reactions to cold temperatures.

Presenter: Caroline Steel

Producer: Hannah Fisher

Editor: Ben Motley

(Photo: Woman enjoying winter playing in fresh snow. Credit: Olga Pankova/Getty Images)

The end of Australian soap opera Neighbours has us wondering why a television series ending makes us sad. Also, what does science say about how to engage with screens while still protecting your vision?

Also on the show, visual ecologist Daniel Hanley has created a camera to help us visualize the world animals see, and why are there green birds, green insects, but no green mammals?

All that plus more Unexpected Elements.

Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producers: Margaret Sessa-Hawkins, Alice Lipscombe-Southwell, and Ella Hubber

You may have heard of Ozempic, and other GLP-1 drugs. They’re everywhere. And they typically involve weekly injections — which can have a sticker price of over a thousand dollars a month. And insurance coverage has been tricky to navigate for a lot of people. That’s why there’s a lot of excitement around a new pill form of the drug. NPR Pharmaceuticals Correspondent Sydney Lupkin chats about these experimental pills with host Emily Kwong. 


Check out more of NPR’s coverage about GLP-1s.


Interested in more health stories? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.


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In November, the U.S. stopped production of the humble penny after 232 years in circulation. On today’s show, Darian Woods and Wailin Wong from NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator unpack the fiscal math that doomed the penny, and an artist pay tribute to this American icon. 

Follow the Indicator on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 

View more of Robert Wechsler’s artwork here.

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Many countries are frustrated with U.N. climate conferences. While some countries urgently want to transition away from fossil fuels — the main driver of global warming — others are blocking that language from climate agreements. Today on the show, Emily talks with Julia Simon from NPR’s climate desk. She takes us to Brazil and introduces us to a group of countries that are trying something new.

Interested in more science and climate related news? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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Humankind has the technology to go to space. Space architect Ariel Ekblaw says the bottleneck now is real estate: getting larger volumes of space stations in orbit. Her company is working on the equivalent of giant, magnetic space Legos—hexagons that could self-assemble in space into livable, workable structures. This episode, host Regina G. Barber talks to her about this space architecture and why she says that the goal isn’t to abandon Earth–but to off-world industries like agriculture and manufacturing in order to build a better Earth.

If you liked this episode, check out our Space Camp series.

Interested in more space tech episodes? Email us your question at shortwave@npr.org.

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This year, quantum science and computing came up a lot. There have been broad claims that quantum science and engineering could one day help cure diseases, design new materials, optimize supply chains -- or help in other ways not yet fathomable. And, while the Trump administration has made strides to cut scientific funding, quantum research is one of two things they’ve pledged to continue investing in – along with artificial intelligence. Meanwhile, scientists have been hard at work, pushing the research to move quantum engineering from sci-fi to real-world usefulness. All of this got science correspondent Katia Riddle wondering: When will all of this effort actually pay off? She talked to a lot of scientists to figure it out -- and to figure out how much scientist really understand about quantum science. She brings everything she learned onto the show today. 

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